Late dispatches from Fairfield

As Jeff Koch mentions with his unused driving impressions, we often write materials that don’t make it into print. In the next Hemmings Motor News we’ll have four pages of coverage from the recent Fairfield County Concours d’Elegance, accompanying Saturday CCCA Grand Classic and local club shows; but I took more pictures and interviewed more owners than we had room for. Here are their stories.

1951 Buick Roadmaster

A special Woody class brought many cars to love, but my favorite was Jim Taylor’s 1951 Buick Roadmaster. This unrestored car was in Cameroon, Africa, for most of its life, and has many French and Portuguese accessories.

1988 Porsche 928, Janica and Peter Shafer, Weston, Connecticut

This is the Shafer family’s family Porsche, the one that carried their daughter as a baby, and more recently took her as an eight-year-old to the 2011 Porsche Parade in Savannah, Georgia. “It took a while to find a car seat that would fit,” said Janica. Peter said that of the 10 or so Porsches of every stripe they’ve owned, this may be their favorite.

1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 SWB, Derick TeeKing, San Francisco, California

When an 18-foot-long car is the “short” version, you know the big one is truly big. In the case of Mercedes’ fantastic 600, Derick’s got two extra feet of room when he parallel parks that a LWB owner doesn’t. He says he bid online on it as a joke, then sent it from Atlanta to the renowned Karl Middelhauve’s MB Grand 600 Restoration in Wisconsin to get it road ready. And even though he wasn’t entirely serious about the purchase at first, he’s had a thing for the big cars since he saw one in The Witches of Eastwick. Today, in addition to winning the Saturday People’s Choice at Fairfield, he enjoys casual drives and running errands in the handbuilt masterpiece, one of the last sold in this country.

1961 Jaguar XK-E

This is E-type # 875006, the second oldest known left hand-drive roadster known. James Strickland not only had the E-type with the lowest serial number as part of a Concours competition, but his opalescent bronze over dark medium green restoration was the Judge’s Choice, as well.

1964 BMW R7, Robert Luciani, Fairfield, Connecticut

He was never a big bike rider, but Robert’s uncle was, so when he was killed in the horrible L’Ambiance building collapse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1987, Robert took over the partially completed restoration. He says it took him the next 20 years to finish it, in honor of his favorite uncle, and while Robert only rides it maybe twice a year, it’ll stay with him until his own daughter is ready for it.

1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Robert Cess, Litchfield, Connecticut

“I’m an old Alfa guy,” said Robert. “I always loved the spirit.” A Rhode Island serviceman brought it home from Europe, and Robert found it in horrible shape: It had been raced, the interior was wrong and “the engine was a disaster.” To get it right, he photographed a correct car at Alfa’s museum, but the problem was “they never made two the same,” he said. This was the last year for handmade Bertone bodies and on Robert’s car, for example, the doors are almost an inch different in length. He did enjoy seeing the file marks in the metal when he stripped the paint, though.

2009 Force India VJM

Here’s another of Dr. Mallaya’s cars (Dr. Vijay Mallya also brought Jaguar D-type #004, which is shown the print coverage). VJM02 (what, you don’t have your own custom serial number?) was the 2009 Force India F1 entry, and gave the team its first ever points with a podium finish by Giancarlo Fisichella at Spa that year. It uses a McLaren transmission and 2.4-liter Mercedes-Benz V-8.

1952 Chrysler Ghia prototype

A 1952 Chrysler Ghia prototype was the Concours People’s Choice. This 1953 Paris show car belongs to Michael Schudroff of Greenwich, Connecticut.

1910 Oakland

Hemmings Classic Car readers will recognize Keith Bailey’s 1910 Oakland, the subject of a recent feature story. It’s been in his family since 1930, but it was taken off the road in the mid-1950s, and the restoration was only completed in 2009. Don’t tell Keith, but class judge Rich Taylor said they had to give him an award just for being Keith. If you ever meet him, you’ll understand.

1961 Ferrari 250 GTE

I spotted another Hemmings friend at Fairfield. Scott Klion’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE was a Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car cover vehicle last spring. The fly yellow Pininfarina fastback didn’t win an award at Fairfield, but Scott did get to drive it home.